diff --git a/lib/checkleakautovar.cpp b/lib/checkleakautovar.cpp
index da847a439..6420b2188 100644
--- a/lib/checkleakautovar.cpp
+++ b/lib/checkleakautovar.cpp
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 
 #include "checkleakautovar.h"
 #include "checkmemoryleak.h"  // <- CheckMemoryLeak::memoryLeak
+#include "checknullpointer.h" // <- CheckNullPointer::isPointerDeRef
 #include "tokenize.h"
 #include "symboldatabase.h"
 #include "astutils.h"
@@ -196,7 +197,8 @@ void CheckLeakAutoVar::checkScope(const Token * const startToken,
         if (tok->varId() > 0) {
             const std::map<unsigned int, VarInfo::AllocInfo>::const_iterator var = alloctype.find(tok->varId());
             if (var != alloctype.end()) {
-                if (var->second.status == VarInfo::DEALLOC && tok->strAt(-1) != "&" && (!Token::Match(tok, "%name% =") || tok->strAt(-1) == "*")) {
+                bool unknown = false;
+                if (var->second.status == VarInfo::DEALLOC && CheckNullPointer::isPointerDeRef(tok,unknown) && !unknown) {
                     deallocUseError(tok, tok->str());
                 } else if (Token::simpleMatch(tok->tokAt(-2), "= &")) {
                     varInfo->erase(tok->varId());
diff --git a/lib/checknullpointer.cpp b/lib/checknullpointer.cpp
index 7f6b7590d..d821bac87 100644
--- a/lib/checknullpointer.cpp
+++ b/lib/checknullpointer.cpp
@@ -162,6 +162,8 @@ bool CheckNullPointer::isPointerDeRef(const Token *tok, bool &unknown)
     const Token* parent = tok->astParent();
     if (!parent)
         return false;
+    if (parent->str() == "." && parent->astOperand2() == tok)
+        return isPointerDeRef(parent, unknown);
     const bool firstOperand = parent->astOperand1() == tok;
     while (parent->str() == "(" && (parent->astOperand2() == nullptr && parent->strAt(1) != ")")) { // Skip over casts
         parent = parent->astParent();
diff --git a/test/testleakautovar.cpp b/test/testleakautovar.cpp
index bcc7a20a3..dc143a286 100644
--- a/test/testleakautovar.cpp
+++ b/test/testleakautovar.cpp
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ private:
         TEST_CASE(doublefree2);
         TEST_CASE(doublefree3); // #4914
         TEST_CASE(doublefree4); // #5451 - FP when exit is called
+        TEST_CASE(doublefree5); // #5522
 
         // exit
         TEST_CASE(exit1);
@@ -812,6 +813,15 @@ private:
         ASSERT_EQUALS("", errout.str());
     }
 
+    void doublefree5() {  // #5522
+        check("void f(char *p) {\n"
+              "  free(p);\n"
+              "  x = (q == p);\n"
+              "  free(p);\n"
+              "}");
+        ASSERT_EQUALS("[test.c:4]: (error) Memory pointed to by 'p' is freed twice.\n", errout.str());
+    }
+
     void exit1() {
         check("void f() {\n"
               "    char *p = malloc(10);\n"